A data processing (DP) network generally includes a plurality of data processing (DP) appliances which are networked to one another for the purpose of data transmission, i.e. computers or other computer-aided and networkable appliances. In this context, a DP network usually contains at least one server which distributes data to a multiplicity of terminals.
A DP network used in the medical sector, as is in use in a modern clinic, for example, incorporates as DP appliances particularly a multiplicity of examination appliances, e.g. computer tomographs etc. It further also typically incorporates a large number of workstations for editing and examining the examination data. A DP network also generally includes a number of input and output appliances, e.g. printers, scanners etc.
Each DP appliance in a DP network normally has a multiplicity of applications, i.e. software modules, installed on it. Usually, such an application can and must be configured by prescribing particular configuration data. Such configuration data define a memory path, for example, under which the application stores data or from which it obtains data. In addition, the configuration data associated with an application usually comprise standard settings for the application's user interface etc.
These configuration data are normally combined in one or more configuration files which are stored locally on the DP appliance. Frequently, a DP appliance also holds a plurality of configuration files associated with the same application, each of these files being associated with a different user. The total quantity of the configuration data associated with the user is also called the user profile.
Some of the configuration data are specific to one specific application or one particular DP appliance. Other configuration data are specific to a group of applications or DP appliances. Yet other configuration data are universal, i.e. are valid for all applications and all DP appliances in the DP network. These configuration data include the IP addresses of network printers, for example.
The complexity and nonuniformity of a DP network used on average in a modern clinic mean that administrating it requires considerable effort. One particular reason for this is that applications of the same type are frequently available in different software versions on the various DP appliances, or from time to time even on one and the same DP appliance. To make a desired configuration change throughout the network, this change normally needs to be made a multiplicity of times in the individual configuration files on the affected DP appliances.
As an alternative to local storage of the configuration data, it is known practice, for example from US 2003/0182403 A1, to provide configuration data outside of the DP appliance in one or more external configuration sources.